


The Wisdom of Cats

by meretricula



Category: Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 10:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8888221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meretricula/pseuds/meretricula
Summary: Several generations of Morwen's cats size up Telemain, and find there may be more to him than meets the eye.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [que_sera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/que_sera/gifts).



> This fic contains a brief, extremely vague reference to animal death from natural causes.

“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.”  
― Hippolyte Taine

 

"That _magician_ is about to knock on your door," yawned Angelica. She was a very dainty, unthreatening calico cat, so the number of gleaming white, needle-sharp teeth revealed by this gesture could be unnerving to unsuspecting passersby. Fortunately, there were no strangers present to witness it. 

"What magician?" Morwen asked, most of her attention still fixed on deciphering the magical text in front of her. The writing was very small and the author's spelling was frankly appalling, which on a good day Morwen thought was a clever way to keep amateurs from attempting spells beyond their ability and on less optimistic ones she regarded as an indictment of the state of educational standards in the magical community. On this particular day, she was not feeling inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt. 

"You know," Angelica said unhelpfully. "The magician." 

Before Morwen could prompt the cat for more information, there was a rap on the door to her room. Wishing, not for the first time, that her request to make her dormitory room inaccessible except to pre-vetted callers had been approved, she got up from her desk and went to peer through the peephole at her unexpected visitor. "Oh," she said aloud to Angelica. " _That_ magician." She unbolted the door and opened it wide enough to talk, although not so wide that it would be taken as an invitation to come in. 

"Hello, Morwen," the magician said, with what was probably meant to be an ingratiating smile. "I don't suppose you've chosen a partner for Professor Silbermann's practicum yet." 

"No," she said, giving him a quelling look over the top of her spectacles. "I was hoping he would allow me to work alone." 

"Ah," he said. "Well, in that case, I may be able to save you the effort of applying to him on those grounds. I made a similar request, which I'm afraid to say was summarily dismissed." 

"I see," said Morwen. Unfortunately, she did. It was typical of Professor Silbermann, who kept urging his students to think seriously about the importance of magical collaboration in their future lives and suggesting covens he thought Morwen might be interested in joining after graduation. Morwen, who was looking forward very much to graduation so that she would never need to collaborate on a spell with anyone but Angelica ever again, was not exactly his favorite student. And neither, of course, was the magician hovering awkwardly in her doorway. "I suppose you might as well come in." 

"Thank you," he said. He made an immediate beeline for Morwen's desk and then stopped short, obviously realizing a moment too late that there was only one chair in the room. Morwen rolled her eyes and sat down on her bed. "I'm, ah, my name is Telemain. I wasn't sure if we were ever formally introduced." 

"Not as such," Morwen said. "You do, however, make yourself extremely difficult to overlook. Sit down, I refuse to have a conversation while peering up toward the ceiling if I can help it. What topic did you want to focus on for the practicum?" 

"Oh, um, well," Telemain said. "That is. I noticed -- uh, harmonic resonance fields?" 

" _He_ noticed harmonic resonance fields?" Angelica snorted. "With _those_ ears? Please." 

"Angelica," Morwen scolded, because while cats might have a natural advantage over humans when it came to physically perceiving resonance fields, Telemain had been the only student in their class (besides Morwen, of course) who appeared to have been able to follow Professor Silbermann's lecture on the theoretical aspects of harmonic resonance in the slightest. Telemain might have been an exceptionally irritating classmate who would monopolize a professor by asking questions all class long, but to give credit where it was due, they wouldn't be _stupid_ questions. 

"Oh, hello," Telemain interrupted. Morwen looked up at him and was surprised to see that he was smiling, more genuinely this time. "What a beautiful cat. When are her kittens due?" 

Morwen and Angelica both froze. Morwen recovered fractionally sooner, and turned to fix her cat with a very narrow-eyed gaze. "I don't know," she said. "Angelica hasn't mentioned them yet." 

"It's a fairly simple spell," Telemain began, before realizing that neither witch nor familiar was listening to him. 

"I was going to get around to it," Angelica said defensively. 

"I trust you would have done so _before_ the kittens arrived. And do I need to apologize to some poor cat's owner for your behavior?" 

"Of course not. He isn't anyone's familiar." Angelica stretched and then began kneading the blanket with her claws. "Yet." 

Morwen glared for another moment and then, almost against her will, began to laugh. "Is that the case? I suppose we'll have to look into it. I'm sorry, Telemain, I didn't mean to exclude you from the conversation. What practical applications of resonance fields do you want to focus on?" 

"Well," Telemain said, and he was off. Angelica watched him from beneath lowered eyelids for the rest of his discussion with Morwen, evaluating. Morwen wondered what conclusions she had drawn. 

*

"I'm sorry that I didn't keep in touch after graduation," Telemain said abruptly. It took Morwen a moment to parse his meaning, which had nothing to do with the complex enchantment she was maintaining over their collection of wizard staffs or the analytic notes that Telemain had been dictating to a (very cleverly designed, she was willing to admit) self-notating quill for the past hour. "It didn't occur to me that you might — like me to." 

"I'm not angry with you," Morwen said, startled. "In case you've forgotten, I worked with you on quite a few projects. I'm well aware of your difficulties with noting the passage of time." 

"Well, even so," Telemain said, and quickly turned back to the staff at the center of the study, where it had been carefully balanced on a rack. He looked almost relieved, which Morwen decided not to take as an insult. Obviously Telemain should have known her better than to think she would be offended by such a ridiculous thing, but he had been worried about her opinion, and she thought the implied compliment more than balanced out the rest. 

"Oh, is he _that_ magician?" Murgatroyd asked with a level of interest he usually saved for potential edibles. He leaped down from the windowsill and wove in and out around Telemain's ankles until the magician nearly fell over without taking so much as a step. "How fascinating." 

Morwen frowned. "I don't remember mentioning Telemain to you," she said. 

"Exactly," said Murgatroyd. Morwen's raised eyebrow failed to elicit an explanation, not that she had really expected it to. The cat did at least abandon his efforts to trip Telemain in favor of chasing a sunbeam across the carpet, very much as if it had been his idea all along. 

"That isn't the cat you had in school," Telemain observed. 

"No," Morwen said briefly. Murgatroyd twisted around mid-pounce and trotted back to her side, where he proceeded to rub his face insistently against her calf until she gave in and picked him up. "Even witches' cats do get old eventually. I don't have fur, Murgatroyd," she added, when Murgatroyd licked her hand with his sandpaper tongue. "It's entirely unnecessary to groom me." 

"I'm sorry, Morwen," Telemain said sincerely. "I know Angelica was important to you." 

"Yes, well," Morwen said. She kept her attention fixed on Murgatroyd, delicately tilting his head up so she could scratch under his chin, while he stared back at her with his unflinching yellow eyes. "All my cats are important to me, of course. But we should probably finish up with these staffs before Mendanbar's gargoyle spontaneously combusts in frustration. It is his study, after all." 

Telemain glanced up at the corner of the ceiling where the gargoyle perched, shouting noiselessly into the bubble enchantment Morwen had cast around his head. "Ah, yes, of course. Excellent point. To resume: the effects of the matrices contained within the staff on magnetic fields are negligible…"

"I didn't know the magician knew Angelica," Murgatroyd said once Telemain was fully absorbed again in narrating his observations. 

"How _did_ you hear about him, if Angelica didn't tell you?" 

Murgatroyd looked up at her scornfully. "Angelica knew him. That doesn't mean _he_ knew _her_." He turned his head to watch Telemain again. "Interesting." 

*

"Well, _I_ don't mind," Cassandra said, with unusual resolution. While Quiz, as leader of the feline opposition to Morwen and Telemain's engagement, sputtered in wordless protest, she scrambled her way up Telemain's uninjured side until she was perched comfortably on his shoulder. " _I_ think it's about time," she added, and began vigorously washing between her claws. 

"Thank you for your support," Morwen said. 

"Hello," said Telemain, looking almost as surprised as Quiz, but also significantly happier. "I suppose I'll need to get used to all of you, won't I? What's your name?" 

" _Not_ with your bad arm," Morwen interjected before Telemain could attempt to scratch under Cass's chin. "This is — "

"It's all right, Morwen," Cassandra said, ignoring Quiz's howled, "Cassie, don't you _dare_ — " from beneath the table. "Hello, Telemain. My name is Cassandra." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Telemain said. The light of academic inquiry, Morwen noted with resignation, was already bright in his eyes. "May I ask if all cats are able to make themselves understood by any human as you are with me? I was under the impression that mutual interspecies intelligibility was a feature of the magic practicioner's bond with a familiar, and the implications — " 

"You're marrying Morwen, aren't you?" Cassandra asked. "You're not _any_ human." 

"Do you mean to imply that the ability is transitive along familial lines? Or some other associative relationship — "

"You're a traitor and a suck-up and I don't care if you're my sister, you're _dead to me_ ," Quiz declared, and stalked out of the dining room in high dudgeon. 

"I don't suppose you understood that," Morwen said. 

Cassandra arched her back and jumped down into Telemain's lap, where she butted persistently against Telemain's good hand until he absent-mindedly began petting her. "Of course he didn't," she said. "Quiz wasn't talking to _him_." 

"Did he say something?" Telemain asked, blinking. "Morwen, do you suppose you could take some notes for me? I'm afraid that I didn't bring a dictational quill with me, and I don't have a free hand to write with. When you think about the broader significance — very important paper — our first joint publication as a married couple — several conferences we could present at — "

"I knew you were like this when I asked you to marry me," Morwen said with a sigh, more amused than annoyed. She doubted that Cassandra would really let Telemain in on any important mysteries of feline magic, but she was interested to learn what he could manage to badger out of her. And how long it would take Telemain to realize that the reason he didn't have a free hand. "I'll go find something to write on. Cass — " She looked over her spectacles at the small grey cat, very seriously. "I hope you've thought this through. A magician is a big responsibility." 

"I'll take good care of him," Cassandra promised. "I think he's interesting." 

"That does seem to run in your family," Morwen agreed, and went off to find a quill.


End file.
